So now being fat and overweight is being physically fit(According to the republicans)

[bigdarryl]

Now before anyone gets upset about me talking about overweight people my concern is about my Governor Christ Christy with his doctors saying he is physically fit.I'm not buying it no one who walks around with the weight he has is fit.I mean the rethugs talk about Michell Obama supposely being fat(which she's not) and now we are supposed to ignore Christies weight http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/10/christie_releases_medical_summary_in_wake_of_buonos_challenge.html#incart_river_default

[Faygo Kid]

1. Can you be fat and not overweight, or overweight and not fat?

Seems redundant to me.

[Jamaal510]

9. I suppose

maybe if a person happens to be a human balloon or a blimp.

[DireStrike]

16. It's quite possible to have an "average" or even "underweight" BMI and still

be unusually proportioned. Belly fat lingering on otherwise skinny people and so forth.

[MillennialDem]

19. BMI isn't a reliable predictor for tall people or muscular people anyway. It's only good for people

of about average height and muscle.

[DireStrike]

20. Not good for them either, honestly.

[MillennialDem]

21. Yeah not really because it doesn't really account for people having different body types even

if they are the same height, weight, and roughly the same muscle mass.

That said for variance in height it's really messed up. Why is height squared instead of cubed?

[Recursion]

28. A bodybuilder can be overweight but still have a low body fat

Overweight itself, regardless of fat, can cause health problems (but obviously being in bodybuilder shape is going to help counteract some of them).

[MADem]

2. In the military, he would be regarded as unfit and morbidly obese.

That's not an insult, that's what they'd put on his fitness test.

I know he's had that surgery and probably shed a goodly amount of weight since then, but everytime I've seen video of him walking, he's wheezing and he looks like he's in agony.

[Igel]

12. Unfit =/= unhealthy

Unfit means "not fit for duty." Lots of reasons for that.

[Warpy]

3. Every time he walks he's shifting about 300 pounds of dead weight

and that qualifies him (as well as other active fatties) as an athlete.

Besides, he'll be relatively trim by 2016.

[IrishAyes]

8. If his 'heart' doesn't give out first.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. It would raise questions about his ability to carry out his duties.

I doubt he could maintain a grueling schedule that the POTUS job requires.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

5. ...except for the fact that they have called Democratic women fat and ugly. They have made a

career of it. Hillary Clinton has been routinely criticized for having "elephant legs," and Michelle Obama has big thighs and a big butt. Meanwhile, no woman on Faux News weighs over 110 pounds and Sarah Palin thinks she's fat. They need to get the fuck out of here with that bullshit. Chris Christie is a fat motherfucker. That's a fat. And sure, it is possible for someone to be fat or heavy, but strong and fit. Sure, but their double standards are laughable! Dude can barely speak without gasping for air.

[Igel]

13. So your problem with the report isn't what it says.

It's because it's unfair to say Cris... whoever is healthy while (R) say that somebody on our team is fat.

The real problem is that somebody dared to call somebody on our team fat then.

It's a question of fairness. If they insult us, surely they're wrong or we're allowed to insult them in high dudgeon. Things must be even handed.

Things aren't, though, and a cursory examination of any (D) site will show that in spades. So what you're really saying, in the end isn't that double standards and a lack of even-handedness are the problems, but you don't like people on our team being insulted.

Specifically women, who must always be both strong, independent, ideologically pure and, most importantly, attractive to men if they're Democrats, I guess.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

17. No. My problem is double standards. That's always been my problem when it comes to Republicans.

It doesn't matter what the issue is. If Chris Christie were a Democrat, you and I both know that the media would crucify him for his weight. But the corporate media adores Christie; they like him because he's "tough" and "tells it like it is". Bullshit!! Even when they do comment on his weight, they don't assert or even imply that he's unfit for office.

Look, I am a woman. I am black. And as someone who has struggled with weight all of her life and trying to live up to standards of beauty, I truly know what it's like to be constantly under a microscope. Yes, I have my weight under control and I've never been healthier or more fit in all of my life. But, let's be honest now. If Christie were a Democrat and/or a woman, the way he's treated in the media would be far different.

You can attack me all you want, but the truth is the truth.

[moriah]

22. I hate hypocrisy and double standards, too, that's why I try not to engage in it.

For me, at least, it feels like I'm having a double standard if I want the media and politicians to focus less on body image yet make another person's body a focus of my debate.

Chris Christie is easy enough to defeat on the issues without having to get personal.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. O.K., but this thread addresses Christie's physical appearance. Otherwise, I'm right there with you.

It wouldn't even be an issue for me, either had they not brought it up.

[LiberalLoner]

29. I have noticed Repukes only attack women for being fat, never men.

My father, a classic tea party jerk, has always been the same way. A man can be morbidly obese and he makes no comment, but if a woman has any extra weight, or actually is anything except model emaciated, he makes the most cruel remarks.

It is part of how they see the world.

Men, because they are real people, can be any weight and still receive respect.

Women, who are "things" and not people to Repukes, have value only insofar as they serve well as decorative, respectful, fawning objects.

[BillyRibs]

6. Look, Christy is a lot of things (Many of them Nasty) but

Even I could do his job better than him and I'm Overweight and have scoliosis of my Lumbar.

[IrishAyes]

7. Anyone left out there who thinks the GOP has an ounce of integrity?

Got a bridge to sell you.

[SunSeeker]

10. The problem ain't how big his ass is, it's how small his soul is. nt

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

25. Whoop, there it is! And most disturbing is that so many Democrats will vote for that small soul.

[chervilant]

30. Not THIS Democrat. n/t

[whistler162]

11. I will let you tell this guy....

"I'm not buying it no one who walks around with the weight he has is fit."

"Rams make a lot of roster room for 6-foot-10, 403-pound lineman Terrell Brown"
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/rams-lot-roster-room-6-foot-10-403-174026161.html

by the way your bigotry is showing. But, that is okay being overweight is one of the allowed bigotries,

[Igel]

14. You can be quite overweight and still be fit for some jobs.

Fit is relative to job. I am not fit for basic Marines training. Since I'm not about to undergo basic training for the Marines, that's not much of a problem.

A woman I knew was fit for her job. Her job was discontinued and she'd either have to retire or take on a different job for the same organization. For one different job she was unfit when it came to qualifications . For the only other job option she was physically unfit. She retired a year early.

You can even be substantially overweight and still be healthy.

That says nothing about what your health will be like in a few decades. Obesity is considered "unhealthy" not necessarily because of the current effects but future effects. Yet some people who are overweight continue no less healthy than "fit" people right up until they die with an age close to the average age at death. Perhaps they'd have lived for another 20 years if they weren't overweight. (It is true that most superlivers are quite thin.)

[sofa king]

15. Concur. "Fit to lead" is entirely different....

... from being fit to walk up a flight of steps. Just ask Franklin Roosevelt.

Edit: Please to not assume that by saying this, I think that Christie is fit to lead a loop of wet spaghetti.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

18. Forgive if I was suggesting or implying that one cannot be overweight and fit. As someone who has

struggled with weight issues even when I've always been active, I can attest to the fact that one can be fit and even fat. But that's not really what I was commenting on. I was responding to the hypocrisy of the Republicans and of the Corporate Media which have embraced Chris Christie. Were he a Democrat and/or woman, they'd be singing a different tune.

For the first time in my life, I am the thinnest and fittest I've ever been. I gain 5 pounds and people would be calling me fat even though I'm almost down to a size 2. It's fucking ridiculous how double standards are.

[moriah]

23. It wouldn't matter if he was rail-thin when it comes to his "fitness" for the Presidency.

He fails the mental test long before the physical.

[gopiscrap]

26. Yeah Christy is going to huff and puff one too many times

and then his poor belligerent heart is going to give out.

[defacto7]

27. Does anyone really believe

Christy's doctor is going to say he is unfit, unhealthy, obese or anything that would jeopardize his politics? Money can buy a bill of health for any wealthy politician.

[whatthehey]

31. Fitness means suitability for an intended purpose

The POTUS has no purpose for which suitability includes aerobic activity (or more accurately if the real objections are voiced, physical attractiveness) to any significant degree. Christie already has a high stress job so that's a non-starter. As POTUS, the ability to participate in athletics is immaterial. The guy wouldn't even have to carry his own bag the 50' between the limo and AF1.

Oppose Christie by all means. There are 50 reasons I could think of that he'd be a lousy president, starting with doctrinaire attitudes, simplistic economic analysis, right wing social views, foreign policy ignorance, personal truculence, etc.

But being fat is number 999,999 on that list. It is absolutely, utterly, totally irrelevant to the duties of a President. Kennedy and Truman to name but two dealt with far more real physical limitations.

Christie is physically unfit to be a building site laborer, a tree trimmer, a UPS loader, or any number of jobs. He's only unfit to be POTUS between the ears.